And one night we were informed that the Jaguar Club of California was coming up to Occupy our establishment this one particular weekend.

Our response was...Cool, will make some serious cash (tips).

So... on the day before the entire group was to show up, the President of the club, and his wife, showed up to get settled in and check the place out.

Now you have to understand that the REAL restaurant is upstairs in this building, but we do/did have a "Bar Menu" in the downstairs bar... which is the size of an aircraft carrier, complete with a mezzanine level for which the bartender (me) was responsible.

Anywho... it's not a particular busy night, and the President of the JC and squeeze are eating and drinking at the bar. When they finish... he leaves a $3.00 tip on a $57.00 tab.

Now I'm fairly new at this place, and I'm not really comfortable chasing these guys down and bitching about the tip. So I did not. But...

When THE JCP went to use the men's room, the squeeze looked over her shoulder, saw him as gone, and promptly reached into the "no man's zone" (that little dipped down part where the tip was, where the bartender makes the drinks, and where in some certain bars you might end up with a broken hand if you were to be so bold as to rescind a tip...)

And... took two of the three dollars back, and stuffed them into her purse!

But trying to be mellow and understanding... I just file it, and do not react... at all. I just figure that's the way these guys end up with Jaguars.

Now... the NEXT NIGHT... the rest of the Jaguar Club shows up...

And now I'm the best buddy/friend of the PJC & Squeeze...

And I'm being funny, and I'm working my ass off, and they are throwing $5's, $10's, & $20's at me. And I'm keeping an eye on the President's wife.

But at one point... in the middle of my little tourism/must see/hilarious History of the area performance... the president's wife... in the middle of a dead space... points at me and says... "So, where do YOU people live?"

Now my momma told me exactly what that question meant...

And as I Rolodexed through the various "FUCK YOU" responses in my mind that rose to the occasion... I took another path.

As the room was now COMPLETELY SILENT... I said, with a smile...

"Oh... they have a migrant waitressing, bar tending, cheffing encampment right up the road. They bus us in in the morning so as to serve you, and then bus us out at night so as to not offend you."

Now I was actually risking my job here... And I even went through the swinging door into the wine/food storage hallway, only to find my boss, my manager, doubled over in laughter...

I asked him if I was fired, and he said, "I have no idea." And continued enjoying the moment.

When I re-emerged into the bar there was a couple of hundred dollars of tip in "the rail", and all I could fathom, was that the rest of the California Jaguar Club had had enough of these two too.

The Democrats' self-defeating crybaby chorusAfter a special election loss in New York City, many on the Left are boneheadedly fleeing Obama — just when they should be rallying to his side.Bob Srhum - The WeekPublished September 16, 2011, at 7:58 AM

<snip>

Before the month came thumping in on elephant feet, I wrote that each August since 2007 had marked a cruel passage for Barack Obama and suggested how he might turn the ides this year. It was not to be, and maybe never will be. The month actually culminated — and confirmed its unhappy course — on September 13, when a machine-ordained Democratic candidate lost the New York City congressional seat of the deflated Anthony Weiner to a Republican tea merchant.

The GOP reaction was predictable: This was a referendum on Obama and a portent of doom in 2012. After all, here was the first Republican elected from this district since 1923. (Actually, that's a sloppy factoid, echoed in the media, to make it easy to blame Obama first; it's a fact in the Brooklyn rump of the district, but not in Queens, the district's predominant swath, where Forest Hills and other neighborhoods sent Republican Seymour Halpern to Congress in the 1960s and 1970s.)

Al Smith, the master of the sidewalks of New York, in a characteristic phrase, might have called the Democrat in this special election "a bum." At the least, David Weprin was a bumbler. He confidently offered up a figure on the national debt; he was off by 10 trillion (with a 'T') dollars. He skipped out of a debate, citing the threat of Hurricane Irene; the storm had already passed. He didn't go on the attack until it was too late; he never brought Gov. Andrew Cuomo into a district where he is overwhelmingly popular.

James Carville would have the president play a hasty game of musical chairs that would turn Obama's ship of state into the Titanic.

Weprin fled any identification with the president after former New York Mayor Ed Koch urged voters to retaliate against Obama's Mideast policy by rallying to the Right. Koch, whom I was proud to help defeat for re-election in 1989, has a record of exploiting ethnic tensions and turning on his own party. He race-baited Jesse Jackson in the 1988 presidential primary — and in the past, he's endorsed Rudolph Giuliani, the state's last Republican senator (Alfonse D'Amato), and George W. Bush.

The wait is over! Rick Perry will host his much-buzzed about Christian prayer-fest "The Response" in Houston on Saturday, where participants will ask for divine help to overcome America's myriad problems.

"A historic crisis facing our nation and threatening our future demands a historic response from the church," Perry said in a video recorded to promote the event. "We must, as a people, return to the faith and hope of our fathers. The ancient paths of great men were blazed in prayer - the humility of the truly great men of history was revealed in their recognition of the power and might of Jesus to save all who call on His great name."

It's a far cry from the Perry of 2002, who was described in a Texas Monthly profile as reluctant to discuss his faith in public: http://www.texasmonthly.com/preview/2002-0... Asked how his religion informed his politics, he replied: "I don't think it does, particularly."

Hypothetical Future: Pretend it's 50, 500, or 5,000 years from now, and assume the human species still survives.

We've always flirted with the idea of some future utopian dream where machines will someday take care of almost all of our needs. Advances in robotics, micro-surgery, farming, etc...

Everybody will be healthier, eco-friendly, and have enormous amounts of time on their hands to pursue their chosen interests.

Or so the fantasy goes...

And how can you blame us, in the first world, nobody has to go down to the stream/river to fetch water, or pound their clothes on a rock to launder them, we invented indoor plumbing, the faucet, and the washing machine. We don't have to gather stones to sharpen, fix to long sticks of wood, and go out on a hunt and bring down a gazelle, and then using more sticks start a fire, and cook it. We just go to Safeway now and light up the stove.

So it's quite understandable that as technology frees us from many laborious tasks, that we fantasize about a future that WE might not live to see, but in which we might take some comfort that we were a part of helping happen, and that out children, or their children, etc... will one day be able to enjoy.

Labor free, with time to expand the artistry of the mind.

Yet there is one question (it seems to me) that is never addressed in these possible futures.

And here is where I have trouble voicing the question. It goes something like this... "People now have the greatest disdain for people who they feel "do not earn their keep".

"I mean hell man, I work my ass of all day to pay my bills and make sure I've got rent money, and the lights turned on."

You know the the drill... it's one of the reasons "Welfare Reform" was so "popular" and passed easily... all those lazy MoFos GETTING MONEY FOR DOING NOTHING.

Which leads me to the question... "How do we make the transition to people not having to work, yet still being provided for? How will the people still required to work view the first ones not having to work any longer?

How... will we avoid the dangers of, as Dickens had Scrooge say, "the surplus population". Or a new Final Solution for that matter.

Will we be in such agreement in the future, that my concerns here will seem quaint? Because watching the last few weeks of debt deal political arguments, said and unsaid, does NOT give me great hope for any Utopia that I wold want to be associated with.

That was my attempt to ask a really convoluted question, any responses are welcome , and thank you for listening.

anybody else in the Democratic Party. And that's saying something considering that FDR was the best Democratic President that ever lived.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt announcedthe plan for a bill of social and economicrights in the State of the Union addressbroadcast on January 11, 1944

“The Economic Bill of Rights”

Excerpt from President Roosevelt's January 11, 1944 message to the Congress of the United States on the State of the Union:

“It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.

This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.

As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.”<2> People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

Americas own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens.

For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.

It's a budget that produces a surplus by 2021 without cutting services for the poor and middle-class. It thus provides a stark contrast with the recent proposal by Rep. Paul Ryan, and a left-flank to the principles outlined by President Obama.

One of the nation's biggest banks — JP Morgan Chase — admits it has overcharged several thousand military families for their mortgages, including families of troops fighting in Afghanistan. The bank also tells NBC News that it improperly foreclosed on more than a dozen military families.

The admissions are an outgrowth of a lawsuit filed by Marine Capt. Jonathan Rowles. Rowles is the backseat pilot of an F/A 18 Delta fighter jet and has served the nation as a Marine for five years. He and his wife, Julia, say they’ve been battling Chase almost that long.

The dispute apparently caused the bank to review its handling of all mortgages involving active-duty military personnel. Under a law known as the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), active-duty troops generally get their mortgage interest rates lowered to 6 percent and are protected from foreclosure. Chase now appears to have repeatedly violated that law, which is designed to protect troops and their families from financial stress while they’re in harm's way.

A Chase official told NBC News that some 4,000 troops may have been overcharged. What’s more, the bank discovered it improperly foreclosed on the homes of 14 military families.

“We are deeply appreciative of those who fight to protect our country and Chase funds a number of programs that provide benefits to military personnel and veterans, and while any customer mistake is regrettable, we feel particularly badly about the mistakes we made here,” Chase chief communications officer Kristin Lemkau said in a statement to NBC News.

What I would SUGGEST he do... since the campaigning for 2012 starts pretty soon, is demonstrate by words and deeds, which side of the class war he is on!

I would do what FDR did by hiring Joe Kennedy.

Kennedy's first major involvement in a national political campaign was his support in 1932 for Franklin D. Roosevelt's bid for the Presidency. He donated, loaned, and raised a substantial amount of money for the campaign. Roosevelt rewarded him with an appointment as the inaugural Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Kennedy had hoped for a Cabinet post, such as Treasury. After Franklin Roosevelt called Joe to Washington to clean up the securities industry, somebody asked FDR why he had tapped such a crook. "Takes one to catch one," replied Roosevelt.<12>

Kennedy's reforming work as SEC Chairman was widely praised on all sides, as investors realized the SEC was protecting their interests. His knowledge of the financial markets equipped him to identify areas requiring the attention of regulators. One of the crucial reforms was the requirement for companies to regularly file financial statements with the SEC, which broke what some saw as an information monopoly maintained by the Morgan banking family. He left the SEC in 1935 to take over the Maritime Commission, which built on his wartime experience in running a major shipyard.

I'd get Joseph Stieglitz, Paul Krugman, William Black, Elliot Spitzer and others to team up with Elizabeth Warren into an Economic Kitchen Cabinet, and I'd put the corporations on notice that they ain't running the show any longer...

And... I'd have regular public appearances (Press Conferences, Addresses to the Nation, even Fireside Chats) keeping the nation informed on how the rich and corporate America are coming to the aid of the Nation that has GIVEN THEM SO MUCH!!!

The world's high net worth individuals (HNWIs)(1) regained ground despite weakness in the world economy, according to the 14th annual World Wealth Report, released today by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and Capgemini. The world's population of HNWIs returned to 10 million in 2009 and HNWI financial wealth increased, posting a gain of 18.9 percent to $39 trillion. Ultra-HNWIs(2) increased their wealth by 21.5 percent in 2009. These figures indicate that emerging wealth recovery has nearly recouped 2008 losses, returning to levels last seen in 2007.

"The last few years have been significant for wealthy investors. While in 2008 global HNWI wealth showed an unprecedented decline, a year later we are already seeing distinct signs of recovery, and in some areas a complete return to 2007 levels of wealth and growth," said Sallie Krawcheck, president, Global Wealth and Investment Management, Bank of America.

"The rebound has been, and will continue to be, driven by emerging markets -- especially India and China, as well as Brazil," said Bertrand Lavayssiere, managing director, Global Financial Services, Capgemini. "In fact, Asia-Pacific was the only region in which both macroeconomic and market drivers of wealth expanded significantly in 2009."

While the global HNWI recovery was generally stronger in developing nations, most of the world's HNWI population and wealth remained highly concentrated in the U.S., Japan and Germany, which together accounted for 53.5 percent of the world's HNWI population in 2009, down slightly from 54 percent in 2008. North America remains the single largest home to HNWIs, with its 3.1 million HNWIs accounting for 31 percent of the global HNWI population.

It's one thing to toss actual trolls under the bus, but lately we've seen some of the longest, most prolific, and most insightful members either shut down or tossed out for what USED TO BE a discussion of what one felt was the truth, according to their own predilictions and personal history.

It's an Internet Message Board, THAT'S ONE OF ITS BASIC FUNCTIONS!

When I was a newbie here, I was lectured for believing that the things posted on DU might actually affect anything... conferences, congressional hearings, elections...

And ya know what??? They were right, I was wrong.

It's an Internet Message Board!

Yet, shutting things down seems to be the norm rather than the exception these days. What... Exactly... Are we afraid of???

And...

I do not mean to be hurtful, or overdramatic with this, but many wonderful DUers were here posting right until the ends of their lives. They fought the good fight, both as actual activists, and as part of this online community... until they could post no more. We know their names... Keph, Andy, Nostamj to name a few... one has to wonder what they'd think of all this now. One lately has to wonder if THEY'D HAVE LEFT, OR BEEN BOOTED!

Just barely a couple of weeks ago, I voted almost straight ticket Democrat in our Primary here in California. And curiously... I'll be voting for Jerry Brown this November, just like I did with my very first vote after I turned 18 in 1974.

And in case you did not know it... he's a Democrat. And so am I.

Whatever happens here at DU, to me, or to the Democratic Party... I will be sleeping well.

It's one thing to toss actual trolls under the bus, but lately we've seen some of the longest, most prolific, and most insightful members either shut down or tossed out for what USED TO BE a discussion of what one felt was the truth, according to their own predilictions and personal history.

It's an Internet Message Board, THAT'S ONE OF ITS BASIC FUNCTIONS!

When I was a newbie here, I was lectured for believing that the things posted on DU might actually affect anything... conferences, congressional hearings, elections...

And ya know what??? They were right, I was wrong.

It's an Internet Message Board!

Yet, shutting things down seems to be the norm rather than the exception these days. What... Exactly... Are we afraid of???

And...

I do not mean to be hurtful, or overdramatic with this, but many wonderful DUers were here posting right until the ends of their lives. They fought the good fight, both as actual activists, and as part of this online community... until they could post no more. We know their names... Keph, Andy, Nostamj to name a few... one has to wonder what they'd think of all this now. One lately has to wonder if THEY'D HAVE LEFT, OR BEEN BOOTED!

Just barely a couple of weeks ago, I voted almost straight ticket Democrat in our Primary here in California. And curiously... I'll be voting for Jerry Brown this November, just like I did with my very first vote after I turned 18 in 1974.

And in case you did not know it... he's a Democrat. And so am I.

Whatever happens here at DU, to me, or to the Democratic Party... I will be sleeping well.

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